lawmen – Texas History Notebook

Ranger Dan L. McDuffie

Dan Lafayette McDuffie was born February 16, 1883 to James C. McDuffee (1844 – 1915) and Emily Mahalah Hays McDuffee (1855 – 1911). James was born in Tennessee and Emily was born in Alabama. It is not recorded how they met but they were married in 1877 in Arkansas where many of their children, including Dan, were born. By 1888, they had relocated to North Texas where all three of Dan’s younger siblings were born. Dan married Willie Lemuel “Lemmie” McCright in 1907 in New Boston, Bowie County, Texas in 1907 and a daughter was born to the couple the following year. Both of his parents had passed away by 1920 and in the federal census, Dan was living on the family farm.

United States Marshal Harrington Lee “Hal” Gosling

Marshal Hal Gosling was killed in an escape attempt aboard a train in Comal County on February 21, 1885. James Pitts and Charles Yeager were convicts who were in the process of being transported back to San Antonio and then on to Federal prison to serve their sentences. Gosling was the son of William Gosling (1812 – 1876) of England, and Lucinda Harrington Gosling (1825 – 1896). Hal was one of several siblings in the family. He was born to the couple on June 2, 1851 in Tennessee. William was listed as a manufacturer in the 1850 and 1860 census reports. The 1870 census referred to the cotton industry. William died in 1876 of unknown causes and Lucinda appears to have survived him for many years.

1878 Texas & Pacific Train Robbery (Sam Bass Gang)

The outlaw Sam Bass was born to Daniel Bass (1821 – 1864) and Elizabeth Jane Sheeks Bass (1821 – 1861) on July 21, 1851 in Lawrence County, Indiana. Elizabeth died when Sam was ten. Sam was the third son and the fourth of seven children born to Daniel and Elizabeth. Daniel married Margaret Seibert one year after Elizabeth died and the couple had one son before Daniel died in 1864. Sam’s parents and all of his siblings except one are buried in Indiana.

1896 Wichita Falls Bank Robbery

Captain William Jesse “Bill” McDonald was a celebrated Texas Ranger. He was born in Kemper County, Mississippi to Major Enoch McDonald and Eunice R. Durham McDonald. Enoch enlisted in the Confederate Army early in the Civil War. Bill’s father Enoch was killed in battle at Corinth, Mississippi on October 3, 1862, leaving Eunice, Bill (age 10) and his sister Mary Hana who was about three years older than Bill. The family lived on their Mississippi farm until the end of the war. The farm in Mississippi was destroyed during the war and in 1866, the three moved to Texas to be near to one of Bill’s uncles who lived near Henderson in Rusk County.

1894 Longview Bank Robbery by the Bill Dalton Gang

According to a Washington, D. C. Evening Star newspaper account on May 24, 1894, a bank robbery had occurred in Longview, Texas the day before, involving suspected members of the Dalton Gang. When read today, the account could easily be the story line from a Hollywood western.